My sweet Gabby is with Jesus now.

Gabby had her open-heart surgery on Wednesday. The repair went well, though surgery took longer than expected because she had trouble with her oxygen levels and had to go back on the heart/lung bypass machine. Her heart defects were a bit more extensive than what the echos had shown. But for the most part, the surgery went smoothly.

My husband and I were awoken at midnight on the night of her surgery. A nurse was pounding on the door of the sleep room where we were staying at the hospital. We dragged ourselves, half asleep, to Gabby's room in the PICU. She was surrounded by doctors and nurses. One of her surgeons had been called back in too. They told us Gabby was not doing well. Her kidneys and liver had stopped functioning and she had apparently had a stroke and could not move her legs. She was not getting blood flow to her feet and legs, and they were turning purple. At that point, we were told the next 24 hours would be critical.

The next day, her condition was worsening. Normal liver enzymes are 50. On Thursday, Gabby's were 3000. By Friday, they were 6000. Gabby was passing only blood through her bowels. She was having dialysis and was getting blood round the clock since her own blood was not clotting. The surgeons went over all the notes and info from the AV canal repair. They could not find anything that would explain Gabby's condition. They called experts. They said they had never seen anything like it before and were totally baffled.

On Friday, the doctors and surgeons were in agreement. Gabby was getting worse and the only thing keeping her alive was major doses of the strongest meds they had and the ventilator. We could not let our baby girl stay that way and just watch her get worse and worse. We made the hardest decision of our life and told them to unhook the tubes and wires. They unhooked everything but the ventilator and put her in my arms. Then they extubated her and left us alone to hold her. She took about 4 breaths on her own. I placed my hand on her chest and felt her tiny heart beat its last beats. Then Jesus took her hand and led her home.

We have agreed to an autopsy in hopes that what they find will help save the life of another baby in the future. The docs said they believe Gabby's case is so unusual that they could learn some extremely important things by examining her.

In the end, her tiny heart was all fixed. But mine is broken. I know I will see her again, but I miss her so much. RIP my baby girl, Gabby.

My heart is with you and your family the pain of losing your precious girl is unbearable and I understand just know that you are not alone lean on all the helping hands that are reached out to you. stay close to God's embrace he will keep you safe.....be strong